


Fragmented

by PurpleTranch



Category: Steven Universe (Cartoon)
Genre: Gen, Human Experimentation, Shattered Gems, Transhumanism
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-05-27
Updated: 2018-05-27
Packaged: 2019-05-14 06:20:51
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,066
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14764268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PurpleTranch/pseuds/PurpleTranch
Summary: Humans have always wanted to transcend their limitations. For decades, in secret places out of the public eye, private companies have employed scientists in an effort to do just that by attempting to augment their human test subjects with the broken fragments of strange, seemingly-magical gems from a bygone age. One researcher instigates a series of events that spirals wildly out of control, illuminating the inner workings of these magical gems, and of human minds.This isn't a story about Steven Universe per se; just a story about some people that might live in that world. I don't have any sort of update schedule planned, yet, but if I get into it, I'll figure something out.But be prepared: things may get dark.





	Fragmented

### Prologue

#### Keystone

In a subterranean laboratory isolated in the mountains, underneath the glare of too many fluorescent lights, a woman lay on the seamless concrete floor, a pained snarl on her face as she clutched at a sharp, light purple crystal embedded in the skin between her shoulder and collarbone. It was spiderwebbed with cracks: clearly once part of a larger, faceted gem, it was now maybe a third of the size it once had been. The small part of it that was visible, maybe as long as the woman's pinkie finger, was not even half of its size. The bruise that surrounded the crystal, though, was many times bigger than the crystal itself, and several shades darker.

On the other side of the room, behind a protective barrier of tempered glass, three men observed the woman as they had been doing for days. The whispered, and waited.

Of all of their attempts at integrating the crystals into human subjects, this one had been the most successful so far. Most of their subjects died within the first few hours. So far, Rosa had survived for nearly 70 hours, and with that extra time came a great many insights.

Inside the quarantine zone, Rosa rolled onto her side and groaned. Her body might as well have been burned to a husk; she felt empty and charred, with a single glowing ember spearing her clavicle. For the hundredth time, a tiny voice whispered in the back of her mind: _Want to--_

Rosa's lips moved soundlessly. Behind the glass, one man perked up, narrowing his eyes with renewed interest. “She's starting to verbalize again.”

The other men nodded as the first turned on the intercom and spoke to their subject. “Rosa?”

She didn't respond, save to groan. Her forehead was beaded with sweat.

“Rosa, was there something you were trying to tell us?” The researcher's voice was quiet and insistent, but it didn't reach her.

In the back of her mind, the voice was singing. If she could just catch the words--

“Rosa? Can you hear me?”

_Want to form. Need to form. Want to--_

Her arm, the arm that she couldn't feel anymore, twitched. Her fingers curled and unfurled without her direction.

Rosa heard what might have been a popping sound, from what might have been very far away. Then she heard nothing. Then she died.

The gemstone flared for a moment, and her body perked up for a second. Her eyes, wide and expressionless, looked with inhuman emptiness directly at the three men behind their glass wall.

Then, abruptly, Rosa's body fell limp, and sickly purple flames began to ooze from the skin surrounding the gem, leaving a carbonized silhouette behind. The full shape of the gem shard was visible, poking out of a charred bone like a jagged blossom. 

Jack, the man who'd addressed Rosa, sighed. “She lasted so long. I kind of thought she might make it through.”

One of the others, Victor, shook his head. “There was little chance she'd survive, and you knew that just as well as I did. Let's call it a night. Could you call in the cleaning crew, Chris?”

Chris nodded. “Do we have any personal items that need to be sent back to her family?”

Victor shrugged. “Let the cleaning crew take care of it. That's what they're paid to do.”

Chris chuckled. “Yeah, yeah. We'll review the data after the weekend, then.”

Jack, meanwhile, never took his eyes off of Rosa's remains. Even now, they seemed to glow a faint purple, as if she was still burning. He counted to three, then squashed the part of him that was disgusted-- with himself and with his colleagues. He turned to face them and smiled, close-lipped. “Sounds good to me.”

On his way out, Jack stopped to take a look at a piece he'd been conducting research on: a particularly large piece of morganite, looking to be about half of its original size, with several of its facets intact and very little cracking. And then, much to his own surprise, he pocketed the piece, still encased in its opaque plastic box.

#### Several Days Later

The police arrived at the home of the Fulton family in response to a call about an explosion. They were the first on the scene. They noted, first, that there was no sign of an actual explosion: rather, it looked as if everything had simply collapsed into shards. Every glass surface was now a fine dust of razor-sharp glitter collecting just underneath its former resting place; there were no visible marks on the floor or walls, no scorch marks or sign of the force that follows a blast. There was also no one in the building, and no sign of its inhabitants having been there for at least 24 hours. 

Attempts to locate the Fultons ended in failure. The residents of New Hope, though, have their own theory; everyone knew Jack Fulton worked as a scientist, and he'd always been quiet about the exact nature of his work. Given the extreme circumstances surrounding his family's disappearance, they reasoned, it only made sense that whatever work he was doing was Shady Business, and this fueled gossip like kerosene feeds flames. None of them would hear about how Jack's son, Robbie, would appear at his father's former workplace months later, battered but whole, and with news from his father that he could barely comprehend, if only because he'd seen it for himself:

A Broken Morganite had gotten loose.

#### The Very Beginning

Teresa and her sister, Rita, were on a road trip. It was the first time they'd spent any time together, really, since their mother died four years before. For this year's anniversary of her death, they planned to go to the mountains where they'd all gone camping a couple times, back when Teresa and Rita were kids. There was a campsite not far from the river that was perfect for kayaking, which had always been one of their mother's favorite activities. It was easy to remember her smiling, her little boat slicing through the water.

Before they could make it there, though, they saw a car on the side of the road halfway up the mountain, with a middle-aged man and a boy in his young teens fiddling with the car's innards. 

Teresa clicked her tongue. "Poor guys. Let's stop and see if they need help."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As this is just the prologue, I thought it better to use this POV just for general setup purposes. The next chapter will be written differently, in first-person. 
> 
> I know there's a lot going on here with relatively few words, but if I follow my outline, it might converge nicely. Sorry if it reads sort of chaotically; I didn't do a ton of editing, but I've been thinking about this idea for a long time. Hopefully that shows.


End file.
